Aug 17,2007 00:00 by
UPI HOUSTON -- At least seven people were killed when the tail end of Tropical Storm Erin roared through Texas, flooding roads and leaving thousands of commuters stranded.

A Randalls grocery store employee and a Coca-Cola delivery man were killed on a loading dock at a Clear Lake-area store after a roof collapsed and an unidentified man drowned when he drove his 18-wheeler truck into a retention pond Thursday, a Harris County sheriff's spokesman told the Houston Chronicle.

Three people were killed in a crash on rain-slicked U.S. 281 in Comal County near New Braunfels and the body of a 19-year-old man was recovered from a creek in San Antonio.

In Houston, the storm flooded streets and disrupted light rail and bus service for hours and what was described as a flash flood washed vehicles onto train tracks near Reliant Park, the newspaper said.

Reports of residential flooding, however, were sparse.

At the storm's peak, as many as 20,000 CenterPoint Energy customers were without power, officials said.

A flash flood watch remained in effect Friday for most of southeast Texas, said KHOU-TV.